The Matisi Grottoes in the Hexi Corridor.

Zhangye, a major city in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu, has a history of "half reeds, half pagoda shadows". The Matisi Grottoes are located in the Sunan Yugu Tibetan Township, more than 60 kilometers from Zhangye. It is a temple that combines Han Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism, and is one of the three major art treasures of Hexi Buddhism. It was built in the Northern Liang Dynasty and was named after the legendary heavenly horse left a horseshoe print here when drinking water. The uniqueness of the grottoes lies in the more than 500 cliff pagoda caves, which are large in scale. The most famous one is the Thirty-three Heaven Grottoes, which are embedded in the huge mountain body in the North Temple tens of meters above the ground. There are 21 caves in seven layers up and down the grottoes, neatly arranged on cliffs more than 100 meters high. The cliffs look perpendicular to the ground, the weathered facade is quite smooth, and there are no jagged edges. The red-brown gravel rock stands upright, majestic. Climbing into one cave after another requires hands and feet, sideways and low heads. When going down, you have to sit on the stone steps and move down one by one. Will the ascetic monks at that time feel bitter? Can their state of mind and body achieve nirvana and become a Buddha here, and finally reach the Pure Land of Bliss? The Buddha statues and murals in the grottoes that can be seen now have almost been destroyed. However, the intact Green Tara statue, as the main deity of the Thirty-three Heaven Grottoes, still has countless local believers coming to worship and worship.